ECOSF contributed to the 2nd Climate Change Summit in Islamabad- Pakistan
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The Future Forum (Pvt.) Ltd in collaboration with Ministry of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan organized the 2nd Climate Change Summit 2019 on September 5th, 2019 in Islamabad. The main objective of holding this summit was to open up a dialogue among the key stakeholders to scale up the efforts and measures to adapt and mitigate the escalation of the climate change in Pakistan. The Summit also hosted an award distribution ceremony to appreciate the efforts undertaken by the business community in finding strategic solutions to the impacts of climate change and supporting Pakistan’s transition to low carbon economy. The Summit attracted a large number of participants from diverse backgrounds including the climate change experts, representatives of various government agencies, academia and business community etc.
Ms. Zartaj Gul Wazir, the Minister of State for Climate Change was the Chief Guest in the event. Ms. Wazir in her speech paid gratitude to the summit organizers and participants for their valuable inputs to the important debate on the impact of changing climate and their impacts on Pakistan. She assured that the current government is deeply concerned and committed to address the issues of climate change in Pakistan. She highlighted a number of important initiatives being undertaken by the Ministry of Climate Change, including the Billion Tree Initiative for the country and prohibition of plastic bags in the capital city. She further sought public support for the success of these measures, as they may not produce desirable results and she encouraged that we all need to come together to play our individual parts to help resolve this complex challenge.
Dr. Pervaiz Amir- the Water and Climate Change Expert was the keynote speaker in the Summit. Dr. Amir elaborated many emerging challenges posed by the climate change to economic sectors in Pakistan. Pakistan is being hard pressed for water resources as the demand by various sectors is increasing at a substantial rate, he added. This can potentially force other competing users to extract more water while affecting the supply for agricultural uses. As a result, Pakistan will face water shortages and surges in demand as temperature rises, particularly in the heat-related stresses in agriculture and domestic use.
On behalf of ECO Science Foundation, Engr. Khalil Raza Scientific Officer participated and presented his talk on “Climate Change Mitigation: the Role of Clean Energy Technologies”. Mr. Raza highlighted that energy, industry and transport are the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). About two thirds of the global greenhouse gas emissions are linked to the burning of fossil fuels to be used for heating, industry electricity and transport etc., he added. Pakistan has just begun its journey to industrialize its economy, which would require intensive energy resources to achieve intended goals, therefore, it is right time for Pakistan to invest in clean technologies to reduce the impact of climate change, he emphasized. Renewable energy plays a key role in mitigating global greenhouse emissions by radically lowering the emission profile of Pakistan. Mr. Raza shared a landscape of disruptive innovation being spurred in the clean technology sector and recommended that Pakistan should take advantage of this emerging revolution to achieve sustainable economic development.